


Comfort

by Vampiricalthorns



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Ed still has automail and alchemy because i said so, Ed's in pain, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pain, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 00:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17314361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampiricalthorns/pseuds/Vampiricalthorns
Summary: The winter winds in Central are always a bitch when the fire is far away.





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RoyChristmas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyChristmas/gifts).



> This was written as a gift for Chris because they survived finals. I'm really proud of you!

It always came back harder and tougher in the winter.

The nights where he would wake up gasping in pain, clutching either his leg or his shoulder, trying to not let the hisses of agony slip through his clenched teeth. The nights where he woke to the realisation that the heating had gone out and that the cold was seeping into the scar tissue on his thigh from his frigid metal limb.

Usually, Ed _was_ good at hiding the pain when it hit in the afternoon, what with the freezing winter winds that hit Central every year. Then again, the job of hiding it was made _considerably_ harder when who he lived with was part of the equation. After all, Al was still studying and Roy’s vision hadn’t been fully fixed, even with the help of Marcoh’s Philosopher’s Stone. It only made sense for the three of them to live together.

“Hello?” Ed called into the apartment, not expecting the cheery “hi!” coming from the slightly ajar door that led to Al’s bedroom. Ed winced and closed the front door behind him. He took a second to lean against it and bite down the groan that the burning sensation in his leg threatened to make before he started to make his way towards the open door. He opened Al’s door fully and poked his head into the room, finding his brother curled up on the bed with one of their (too many) cats and a textbook.

Al looked up and smiled softly while absently pushing his reading glasses further up on his nose. “Hello, Brother. How was your day?”

Ed shrugged and leant against the door-frame while untying his ponytail and rather braiding it into a rather messy plait. “It was fine, I guess. There’s like, students from the university coming into the labs every day now to get a taste of what it’s like to be holed up in a lab as your job. Some of them really just doesn’t know how or when to shut up.”

At that, Al snorted; he had been in the labs Ed frequented just the week before. Ed continued, though now with a small smile pulling at his lips, “It’s getting colder outside too. You make sure to bundle up properly when you go outside, yeah?”

A flare of pain shot up his leg as he spoke and he couldn’t suppress the pained shiver and weak groan that followed it.

Al raised an eyebrow, making it clear that he had seen it. “Are you okay there, Brother?” It wasn’t a question, not really, and it made Ed look away from his brother. “It’s just cold, that’s all. I just told you so. You don’t have to worry about me, Al.”

He watched his brother carefully place a bookmark on the page of his book and close it before getting up from the bed and walking over to where Ed was leaning, although now in a more strained manner. Al was still taller, damn him. “You’re lying, Brother. It’s cold outside. Your automail is causing you pain, isn’t it?”

“No!” Ed replied hastily. “It’s honestly fine. Long day, s’all.”

“If you say so,” Al looked like he didn’t believe Ed in the slightest but had decided to not press the matter further. “I guess that means I should start making dinner. Do you know when Roy is due to be home from work?”

Ed shrugged. “Nah, it’s not like he has a very consistent schedule now that it’s nearing the holidays. He’s taken out some days off to relax for a bit, so he _should_ be trying to get ahead of his workload instead of procrastinating like the bastard he is. If he doesn’t, it’s gonna backlog like fuck and he’ll be stuck at the office 24 hours a day.” Ed grinned evilly. “Then he’ll feel my wrath.”

“Well then, I’ll get started on something that takes a bit of time to make and you go heat up your automail. Winry said you should try to oil it more now that it’s cold.” Al walked past Ed, into the kitchen and started digging up the ingredients he would need for the dinner.

Ed sighed, but made his way to the fireplace in the living room and got the matches from the mantelpiece. He could have easily just dug up one of Roy’s special pyrotex gloves from some drawer and made fire that way, but he didn’t have much control of the alchemy behind it and when he was already in pain it was better to just play it safe.

After assembling the firewood in a suitable manner, he took some of the old newspapers they kept near the fireplace and poked some strands of it in-between the firewood before striking a match and lighting the paper on fire. Ed watched the paper crumble and glow with a rare fascination. It was strangely beautiful, yet mysterious (and reminded him terribly much of his boyfriend). He would have stayed there longer to take in the process of the flames licking over the firewood, but another flare of pain up through his leg reminded him why he had started the fire in the first place.

It took him a minute- and a string of (very creative) muttered curses -to get up from the position he was in. Then, the dramatic trek over to the couch before dramatically falling onto it, letting out another soft groan, though this one vocalising this bone-deep exhaustion rather than pain.

Ed pulled off the boot on his left leg and tried to pull up the pant leg (a feat that ultimately failed) so that he would be able to access his freezing cold, aching port. Of course, he _should_ have, had he been thinking properly, gone and already changed into more stretchy or loose pants. But then again, when did he ever plan ahead such trivial things as this?

He curled in on himself and hugged his knee close to his chest, trying to stabilise his breathing as the freezing metal set his nerves on fire and shot up his leg, further now. It always got worse when it started to heat up. The closer he was to a heating source, the more violent his whole body would start having hot and cold flashes.

Through the noise coming from the kitchen, Ed didn’t hear the front door open. He did, however, notice when his boyfriend crouched down in front of him with a worried expression on his face, still in full uniform. That meant he must have looked bad; Roy preferred to get out of his uniform as quickly as possible after returning home to avoid spilling _anything_ on it. Mostly because getting it professionally cleaned was annoying and nothing something he wanted to do more often than necessary.

“Edward, dear, what’s the matter?”

Ed smiled weakly and leant forward to lean his forehead against Roy’s for a moment- a small gesture that showed that he was glad to see him. “It’s nothing. I’m just tryin’ to heat my automail up again. It gets cold.”

 _It gets cold_. Yes, what a brilliant, obvious thing to say. Ed resisted the urge to gently hit his face with his automail hand. Though, it didn’t seem like Roy had paid any particular attention to the fact that Ed now apparently was stupid and saying obvious shit like some five-year-old.

Roy sat himself down on the couch next to Ed and hoisted him onto his lap. Ed squeaked in indignation and flailed, taking a second or two to stabilise exactly where in space he currently was. “You motherfucker, you can’t just grab me like that!”

His outburst only earned him a smirk. “It’s not my fault that the holder of my heart happens to be the perfect size to lift and hold on my lap.”

Ed opened his mouth to reply in anger but ended up clenching his teeth as another hot and cold flash went through his body. The lack of a reaction made Roy’s (fucking freezing hands, _damn_ the Central winter and his boyfriend’s not-really heat retaining gloves) cup his face and make him look at him. “Edward?”

Al’s head poked out of the kitchen to observe the exchange. “He gets like this when it gets cold, General. The cold makes the automail cold and starts freezing the actual part of his leg. That’s why Brother doesn’t like the winter nor going up to Briggs at all. He’s at a much higher chance of getting hypothermia than a person without automail. But don’t worry too much, he’s not at risk for that now. He’s only in pain, I think. _Besides_ ,” He shot the two of them a look, “I’m genuinely surprised you didn’t notice the extent of it until literally just now.”

Ed glared at him. “I’m doing just fine, Al. Get your nose outta my business.”

“Judging by how irritable you’re being, I think your brother is correct in his assumption about you being in pain. Shouldn’t a shower relieve that?” Roy asked pleasantly as he shifted Ed’s position to his lap in a way that had Ed sitting sideways and giving Roy access to his left leg. He took off his gloves and started gently digging his fingers into the sensitive scar tissue on Ed’s leg.

Ed let out a small pained groan. “No, you bastard. That would heat up the metal too quickly and only cause more pain. I have to wait for it to gradually heat up before I can even think about doing something like that.”

Roy pressed a small kiss to Ed’s jaw and continued to massage the flesh around the automail port on his thigh. “Does your shoulder hurt as much or is protected enough against the weather with your jacket?”

“It’s fine, but the barometric pressure is still a bitch,” Ed replied while letting his head lean against Roy’s shoulder, which in turn made him able to press chaste kisses towards Roy’s pulse. It wasn’t sexual, far from it in fact, but more one of nonverbal gratitude that his boyfriend wasn’t making a big fuss about the pain or about helping him. Ed didn’t like a fuss.

They stayed like that for a bit, with Roy forcing the muscles in Ed’s thigh to relax as his automail slowly started matching the air temperature and Ed humming softly against Roy’s neck. It was nice, Ed supposed, the quiet time he could sometimes spend with his definitely-overworked-boyfriend-who-just-so-happened-to-be-a-high-ranking-general-in-the-fucking-military. There wasn’t much Ed wasn’t willing to do for this kind of comfort, although he rarely asked for it. He _did_ have an image to keep up after all. And asking was hard.

They were gently pulled out of their calm and relaxed haze when Al poked his head back into the living room and called out to them that the food was done and that if Ed’s leg was willing to cooperate, they could come and eat.

Ed slowly uncurled from the position he had taken on Roy’s lap and stood up with a quiet groan. Even though he had taken care to be careful and not too fast in his movements, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he took a few seconds to let it wash away.

Behind him, Roy stood up and wrapped his arms around the middle of his chest. Hopeless romantic, that one. Ed couldn’t help the small smile as he turned around and pressed a small kiss to Roy’s nose (a thing he had really started to enjoy doing the last couple of months) before stretching. He let out a small sound of content before releasing himself from the embrace properly.

Ed turned away and started walking in the direction of the kitchen. He wasn’t good at moments like this, that much he knew. What was more, he knew Roy knew too and didn’t mind. From behind him, he heard a soft laugh, and without turning around, he said,

“You’re a sap.”

More of a laugh.

“So, it seems I am, but you love me.”

A blush forming on Ed’s cheeks.

“…I do.”

Footsteps, and a soft kiss to the top of his head.

A smile from Al at their behaviour.

At their way of showing love.

At their way of keeping each other warm in the cold.

At their type of medicine for bad days.

“Good.”

 

* * *

 

It always came back harder and tougher in the winter, but with a flame like Roy present, Ed knew he wouldn’t freeze.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on Tumblr!
> 
>  


End file.
